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Life in the Syria-Turkey border

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Turkish and Syrian women gather to bake bread in a town at the Syrian-Turkish border. Few Syrian refugee families have taken up residence in Turkey’s border villages, instead passing through to get to the refugee camps nearby. Tara Todras-Whitehill

Children amuse themselves on playground equipment. (Town's name is omitted for safety reasons) Tara Todras-Whitehill

A Syrian smuggler brings supplies into a house, supplies that will later be taken across the border to soldiers in the Free Syrian Army. The FSA consists mostly of soldiers who deserted the regular Syrian Army to fight against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Tara Todras-Whitehill

A commander in the Free Syrian Army sits inside a house that he occupies with his family. His family stays there while he sneaks back across the border every night to be near his men. Tara Todras-Whitehill

A Turkish man walks through town. Residents can hear gunfire from neighboring Syria nightly, and smugglers carry arms and supplies to rebel fighters in Syria with seeming impunity. Tara Todras-Whitehill

Syrian and Turkish men play cards together at a grocery store. They gather there from the refugee camps to visit with friends. Tara Todras-Whitehill

Families and children sit outside their tents at the end of the day at a Syrian refugee camp near Boynuyogun, Turkey. Tara Todras-Whitehill

A man throws his daughter into the air inside a Syrian refugee camp in Boynuyogun, southern Turkey. Tara Todras-Whitehill

Children inside a kindergarten tent in the Boynuyogun refugee camp. The school is mandatory for the kids in the camp, but a lack of Arabic teachers, forces kids to learn in Turkish. Unlike Syria, Turkish education does not include Koranic studies. Tara Todras-Whitehill

Women knit and talk inside a tent at the refugee camp. Tara Todras-Whitehill

An older woman keeps an eye on children as they play in the refugee camp. Tara Todras-Whitehill